Database Access Using A Common Web Interface

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for accessing databases using a common web interface are provided. A method for transmitting data retrieved from an endpoint device to a client device using a common web interface includes providing the common web interface to the client device. The common web interface allows access to a plurality of endpoint devices, each endpoint device comprising a unique endpoint address. The method further includes receiving, by a computer, identification data from the client device, retrieving an endpoint address for one of the plurality of endpoint devices based on the identification data, connecting to the endpoint device corresponding to the endpoint address, retrieving data from the endpoint device, and transmitting the retrieved data to the client device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/228,895, filed on Sep. 9, 2011 and entitled “Database Access Using A Common Web Interface.”

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present specification generally relates to methods of accessing databases and, more particularly, methods and systems for accessing databases using a common web interface.

2. Technical Background

A user of a mobile computing device, such as a cell phone or smart phone may desire to retrieve data from a database located in a location remote from the mobile computing device or record data to a database located in a location remote from the mobile computing device. The user may utilize a web browser executing on the mobile computing device to access the database from which data will be retrieved or data will be recorded. In order to access the database, the web browser executing on the mobile device may interface with a website that is capable of accessing the database.

It may be desirable for a website to provide access to databases located within separate computer networks so that multiple mobile computing device users may access the databases located in the network that the mobile computing device is authorized to access. One approach for a website to provide access to databases located within separate computer networks is to replicate each database from each computer network that the website is capable of accessing and to co-locate the replicated databases within the computer network of the website. This approach may be undesirable in that it requires maintaining replicated databases that may contain sensitive data. In addition, this approach may be undesirable because it may be difficult to synchronize the replicated databases to ensure that they contain current data.

Accordingly, a need exists for alternative methods and systems for accessing databases.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a method for transmitting data retrieved from an endpoint device to a client device using a common web interface includes providing the common web interface to the client device. The common web interface allows access to a plurality of endpoint devices, each endpoint device including a unique endpoint address. The method further includes receiving, by a computer, identification data from the client device, retrieving an endpoint address for one of the plurality of endpoint devices based on the identification data, connecting to the endpoint device corresponding to the endpoint address such that the common web interface and the endpoint device may communicate data, retrieving data from the endpoint device, and transmitting the retrieved data to the client device.

In another embodiment, a method for transmitting law firm data retrieved from a law firm database to a client device using a common web interface includes providing the common web interface to the client device. The common web interface allows access to a plurality of law firm servers, each law firm server including a unique law firm server endpoint address and a plurality of law firm databases. The method further includes receiving, by a computer, identification data from the client device, retrieving a law firm server endpoint address for one of the plurality of law firm servers based on the identification data, connecting to the law firm database within the law firm server that corresponds to the law firm server endpoint address such that the common web interface and the law firm database may communicate data, retrieving law firm data from the law firm database, and transmitting the retrieved law firm data to the client device.

In yet another embodiment, a system for transmitting law firm data retrieved from a law firm database to a client device using a common web interface includes a computing device that includes a non-transitory memory component that stores a set of executable instructions that causes the computing device to provide the common web interface to the client device, wherein the common web interface allows access to a plurality of law firm servers, each law firm server comprising a unique law firm server endpoint address and a plurality of law firm databases. The executable instructions further cause the computing device to receive identification data from the client device. The executable instructions further cause the computing device to retrieve a law firm server endpoint address for one of the plurality of law firm servers based on the identification data. The executable instructions further cause the computing device to connect to the law firm database within the law firm server that corresponds to the law firm server endpoint address such that the common web interface and the law firm database may communicate data. The executable instructions further cause the computing device to retrieve law firm data from the law firm database. The executable instructions further cause the computing device to transmit the retrieved law firm data to the client device.

These and additional features provided by the embodiments described herein will be more fully understood in view of the following detailed description, in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplary in nature and not intended to limit the subject matter defined by the claims. The following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, wherein like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic illustration of an exemplary database access architecture, illustrating components of a system for enabling a client device to receive data from an endpoint device using a common web interface, according to one or more embodiments described and illustrated herein;

FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart of a method of registering an endpoint device with a common web interface server, according to one or more embodiments described and illustrated herein;

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method of authenticating a mobile device user as authorized to access an endpoint device utilizing a common web interface server, according to one or more embodiments described and illustrated herein;

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of a method of receiving data from an endpoint device using a common web interface, according to one or more embodiments described and illustrated herein; and

FIG. 5 depicts a schematic illustration of the common web interface server from FIG. 1, further illustrating hardware and software that may be utilized in performing the search query generation functionality, according to one or more embodiments described and illustrated herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring generally to the figures, embodiments described herein are directed to methods and systems for accessing databases using a common web interface. More specifically, the embodiments described herein may provide a common web interface to client devices through which the client devices may access databases that the client devices are authorized to access. The common web interface may provide access to multiple databases to multiple client devices, where each user of a client device may only be authorized to access a subset of the databases accessible to the common web interface. The databases accessible to the common web interface are typically located remotely from the common web interface. Accordingly, embodiments described herein may avoid maintaining replicated databases co-located with the common web interface. Various embodiments of methods and systems for enabling a client device to receive data from an endpoint device using a common web interface are described in detail below.

Although embodiments described herein are described in the context of common websites that provide access to law firm databases contained within law firm servers, embodiments are not limited thereto. For example, the embodiments described herein may be utilized to provide access to databases other than law firm databases (e.g., corporate databases, government agency databases, educational databases, etc.).

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary database access architecture, illustrating components of a system for enabling a client device to receive data from an endpoint device, here a law firm server, using a common web interface, according to embodiments shown and described herein. The database access architecture of the illustrated embodiment generally comprises a computer network 10, a mobile network 12, a plurality of law firm servers 20 a, 20 b, . . . , 20 n, and a common web interface server 30. As described in detail below, the database access architecture may allow a user (e.g., lawfirm1 user of a first mobile device 50 a, lawfirm2 user of a second mobile device 50 b, . . . , lawfirmn user of an nth mobile device 50 n) to access a database within the law firm server that the user is authorized to access via a common web interface located remotely from the law firm server containing the database.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the computer network 10 may include a wide area network, such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a mobile communications network, a public service telephone network (PSTN) and/or other network and may be configured to electronically connect the law firm servers (generically referred to herein as the first law firm server 20 a and the second law firm server 20 b) to the common web interface server 30. In one embodiment, a Microsoft Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus (“Azure Service Bus”) may be overlaid on top of the computer network 10 such that the common web interface server 30 may communicate with the plurality of law firm servers 20 a, 20 b, . . . , 20 n via the Azure Service Bus. Although embodiments are described herein as using the Azure Service Bus, embodiments are not limited thereto. Other products may be utilized to provide connectivity between the law firm servers and the common web interface server and to allow the common web interface server to communicate data with databases located within law firm servers that may include firewalls.

The mobile network 12 may include a mobile communications network, a public service telephone network (PSTN), a wide area network, such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN) and/or other network and may be configured to electronically connect a mobile device of a user to a law firm server the user is authorized to access (e.g. to electronically connect a first mobile device 50 a of a user authorized to access the first law firm server 20 a to the common web interface server 30 and to electronically connect a second mobile device 50 b of a user authorized to access the second law firm server 20 b to the common web interface server 30). It should be understood that the non-limiting architecture illustrated in FIG. 1 is provided for illustrative purposes only, and that other configurations are also possible. While the embodiments described herein may refer to specific users accessing specific law firm servers, any number of law firm servers may be provided to any number of users. Further, it should be understood that a plurality of users may be authorized to access a single law firm server.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the first law firm server 20 a may include a time accounting database 22 a, a billing database 24 a, an access module 26 a, and a firewall 28 a. The access module 26 a executes in a memory component of the first law firm server 20 a. The access module 26 a may receive requests from the common web interface server 30 to retrieve data from the time accounting database 22 a or the billing database 24 a. In response to requests to retrieve data, the access module 26 a may retrieve the requested data and transmit it to the common web interface server 30. The access module 26 a may authenticate users requesting data from the first law firm server 20 a. In order to authenticate a user, access module 26 a may receive a user ID and password associated with the user from a mobile device. The access module 26 a may then verify that the received user ID and password combination permits the user to access the first law firm server 20 a. The access module 26 a may perform such authentication prior to a request to retrieve data from or concurrently with a request to retrieve data from a database within first law firm server 20 a. While the first law firm server 20 a is depicted as containing a time accounting database 22 a and a billing database 24 a, the first law firm server 20 a may contain any type of database, including, but not limited to, databases containing contact data, scheduling data, case data, and/or matter data.

It should be understood that while the mobile devices are depicted as smartphones and common web interface server 30 and the law firm servers are depicted as servers, these are nonlimiting examples. More specifically, in some embodiments any type of computing device (e.g., mobile computing device (smart phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, etc.), personal computer, server, etc.) may be utilized for any of these components. Additionally, while each of these computing devices are illustrated in FIG. 1 as a single piece of hardware, this is also merely an example. More specifically, each of the mobile devices, the common web interface server 30, and the law firm servers may represent a plurality of computers, servers, databases, mass-storage devices, etc.

In the exemplary data access architecture depicted in FIG. 1, the mobile devices used to access the law firm servers may include a mobile web browser executing in a memory component. The mobile web browser of the mobile device may request that data be retrieved from or written to a database within the law firm server that the user of the mobile device is authorized to access, using the common web interface server 30 via the common web interface server 30. Using FIG. 1 as an example, the mobile web browser executing on the first mobile device 50 a may request a time entry from a time accounting database 22 a within the first law firm server 20 a. As an example and not a limitation, the time accounting database may be a database in which attorneys and paralegals record their time for later billing of their clients (e.g. the LexisNexis Time Matters® product).

Still referring to FIG. 1, the common web interface server 30 includes a mobile website 40 a executing in a memory component of the common web interface server 30. The mobile website 40 a may receive a request from the mobile web browser of a mobile device (e.g., the first mobile device 50 a or the second mobile device 50 b) via mobile network 12 to retrieve data from a law firm database. In response to the mobile web browser's request to retrieve data from the law firm database, the mobile website 40 a may send a request to retrieve the requested data to the law firm server that contains the database from which data was requested. In response to the mobile website 40 a request to retrieve the requested data, the mobile website 40 a may receive the requested data from the law firm server that contains the database from which the data was requested.

For example, with reference to FIG. 1, the mobile website 40 a may receive a request to retrieve a time entry from a time accounting database 22 a within the first law firm server 20 a. In response to the mobile web browser request, the mobile website 40 a may send a request to the first law firm server 20 a to retrieve the time entry from the time accounting database 22 a. In response to the request of mobile web site 40 a, mobile website 40 a may receive the requested time entry from the time accounting database 22 a within the first law firm server 20 a.

Still referring to FIG. 1, common web interface server 30 may include a registrar service 40 b executing in a memory component of common web interface server 30 and an endpoint database 38 a. Registrar service 40 b may receive from law firm servers endpoint addresses associated with law firm servers and user IDs associated with each endpoint address. The user IDs may be e-mail addresses of users authorized to access the law firm server, for example. The endpoint addresses and associated user IDs may be stored in the endpoint database 38 a. By storing all of the user IDs authorized to access each law firm server that registers with the registrar service 40 b and accessing the endpoint database 38 a to retrieve the endpoint address of the law firm server that a user wishes to access, the common web interface server 30 may enable multiple users to connect to multiple law firm servers.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that graphically illustrates a method of registering an endpoint device with a common web interface server. At block 200, the law firm server publishes the endpoint address of the law firm server. The endpoint address may be a unique endpoint address generated by the access module of the law firm server. In one embodiment, the endpoint address may be published to a Microsoft Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus (“Azure Service Bus”). The Azure Service Bus may permit the common web interface server to connect with a database within a law firm server through a firewall within the law firm server.

Still referring to FIG. 2, at block 210, the access module of the law firm server may request to register the law firm server with the common web interface server. The registration request may include the endpoint address of the law firm server and all user IDs authorized to access the law firm server. The registration request may be sent by the access module of the law firm server to the registrar service of the common web interface server via the Azure Service Bus.

At block 220, the registrar service of the common web interface server may verify the registration request. In order to verify the registration request, the registrar server may send a message requesting confirmation of the registration request to the access module via the Azure Service Bus. In response, the access module may send a registration request confirmation message to the registrar service via the Azure Service Bus. In some embodiments, a method of registering a law firm server with a common web interface server may lack block 220, such as when the registrar service of the common web interface server does not verify the registration request.

In embodiments that verify the registration request, after receiving the registration request confirmation message, the registrar service may store the endpoint address of the law firm server and all user IDs authorized to access the law firm server in the endpoint database at block 230. In other embodiments that do not verify the registration request, the registrar server may store the endpoint address of the law firm server and all user IDs authorized to access the law firm server in the endpoint database at block 230.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that graphically illustrates a method of authenticating a mobile device user as authorized to access an endpoint device utilizing a common web interface server. At block 310, a web browser executing on the user's mobile device may provide identification data and a password to the mobile website of the common web interface server. By way of example and not limitation, the identification data may comprise a user ID, an email address, a telephone number, or a login name. In the embodiment graphically illustrated in FIG. 3, the identifying data comprises a user ID. The user ID and password may be input by the user into the web browser. Alternatively, the web browser may automatically retrieve the user ID and password from a memory component of the user's mobile device. At block 310, the mobile website may determine the endpoint address associated with the user ID. The mobile website may determine the endpoint address by querying the registrar service for the endpoint address associated with the user ID. If the mobile website queries the registrar service, the registrar service may access the endpoint database to retrieve the endpoint address associated with the user ID and provide the retrieved endpoint address to the mobile website. Alternatively, the mobile website may directly access the endpoint database to retrieve the endpoint address associated with the user ID.

Still referring to FIG. 3, at block 320, the mobile website may request authentication of the user by sending an authentication request to the law firm server associated with the retrieved endpoint address via the Azure Service Bus. The authentication request may contain the user ID or other identifying data and the password of the user. The access module of the law firm server may receive the authentication request. The access module may then access a database that stores userID and password information to determine whether the combination of the user ID and password matches the user ID and password of a user authorized to access the law firm server. If the access module determines that the user is authorized to access the law firm server, the access module may send an authorization indicator message to the mobile website via the Azure Service Bus. At block 330, the mobile website may receive the authorization indicator message. In response to receiving the authorization indicator message, the mobile website may display an authorized user home page to the web browser of the mobile device at block 340. The displayed authorized user home page allows the user to interact with the law firm server by entering data into and manipulating the authorized user home page.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that graphically illustrates a method of receiving data from an endpoint device using a common web interface. At block 400, a mobile web site is provided to a mobile device. The mobile website allows access to multiple law firm servers. Each law firm server comprises a unique law firm server endpoint address and a plurality of law firm databases. The mobile website may be accessed by a web browser of the mobile device. At block 410, the web browser of the mobile device may request particular information, such as a time entry. The time entry may be requested by transmitting a message to the mobile website of a common web interface server. The message may also include identification data related to the mobile device, including, but not limited to an email address, a login name, and a telephone number. The mobile website may receive the request to retrieve data from a law firm database along with the associated identification data. The message containing the request and the identification data may be received by the mobile website of the common web interface server. At block 420, the mobile website may determine the law firm server endpoint address by querying the registrar service for the law firm server endpoint address associated with the identification data. If the mobile website queries the registrar service, the registrar service may access the endpoint database to retrieve the law firm server endpoint address associated with the identification data and provide the retrieved law firm server endpoint address to the mobile website. Alternatively, the mobile website may directly access the endpoint database to retrieve the law firm server endpoint address associated with the identification data.

In response to receiving the endpoint address associated with the identification data, at block 430, the mobile website may connect to the law firm server associated with the retrieved law firm server endpoint address so that the mobile website and the law firm server can communicate data by any means. Once the mobile website and the law firm server are connected, the mobile website may request the time entry (or other information) requested by the web browser. More particularly, the mobile website may connect to the access module of the law firm server associated with the retrieved law firm server endpoint address and request the time entry requested by the web browser via the Azure Service Bus. At block 440, the access module of the law firm server may retrieve the time entry from a time entry database. At block 450, the access module of the law firm server may send the retrieved time entry to the mobile website via the Azure Service Bus. After receiving the retrieved time entry, the mobile website may present the retrieved time entry to the web browser of the requesting mobile device at block 460. In addition to retrieving individual time entries, mobile device users may also add time entries or view multiple time entries (e.g, all time entries from a particular day or all time entries associated with a particular client, etc.), or provide or view additional information or data depending on the content of the database.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of the common web interface server 30 depicted in FIG. 1, further illustrating components of a system for enabling a client device to receive data from an endpoint device using a common web interface, according to embodiments shown and described herein. While in some embodiments, the common web interface server 30 may be configured as a general purpose computer with the requisite hardware, software, and/or firmware, in some embodiments, that common web interface server 30 may be configured as a special purpose computer designed specifically for performing the functionality described herein.

The common web interface server 30 may include a processor 32, input/output hardware 34, network interface hardware 36, a data storage component 38 (which may store endpoint data in an endpoint database 38 a, and a non-transitory memory component 40. The memory component 40 may be configured as volatile and/or nonvolatile computer readable medium and, as such, may include random access memory (including SRAM, DRAM, and/or other types of random access memory), flash memory, registers, compact discs (CD), digital versatile discs (DVD), and/or other types of storage components. Additionally, the memory component 40 may be configured to store mobile website 40 a, registrar service 40 b, mobility logger 40 c, and operating logic 40 d (each of which may be embodied as computer readable program code, firmware, or hardware, as an example). A local interface 42 is also included in FIG. 5 and may be implemented as a bus or other interface to facilitate communication among the components of the common web interface server 30.

The processor 32 may include any processing component configured to receive and execute computer readable code instructions (such as from the data storage component 38 and/or memory component 40). The input/output hardware 34 may include a graphics display device, keyboard, mouse, printer, camera, microphone, speaker, touch-screen, and/or other device for receiving, sending, and/or presenting data. The network interface hardware 36 may include any wired or wireless networking hardware, such as a modem, LAN port, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) card, WiMax card, mobile communications hardware, and/or other hardware for communicating with other networks and/or devices.

It should be understood that the data storage component 38 may reside local to and/or remote from the common web interface server 30, and may be configured to store one or more pieces of data for access by the common web interface server 30 and/or other components. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the data storage component 38 may store endpoint data in an endpoint database 38 a, which in at least one embodiment includes endpoint addresses of law firm servers and user IDs associated with the endpoint addresses. The endpoint data may be stored in one or more data storage devices.

Included in the memory component 40 may be the mobile website 40 a, the registrar service 40 b, the mobility logger 40 c, and the operating logic 40 d. The operating logic 40 d may include an operating system and/or other software for managing components of the common web interface server 30.

It should now be understood that the components illustrated in FIG. 5 are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. More specifically, while the components in FIG. 5 are illustrated as residing within the common web interface server 30, this is a nonlimiting example. In some embodiments, one or more of the components may reside external to the common web interface server 30.

It should be understood that embodiments described herein provide a common web interface for providing access to databases located within separate computer networks so that multiple mobile computing device users may access the databases located in the network that the mobile computing device is authorized to access. Further, embodiments described herein may avoid replication of databases that may contain sensitive data. Moreover, by avoiding replication of databases, embodiments described herein may avoid the need to synchronize replicated databases to ensure that the databases contain current data.

While particular embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be understood that various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, although various aspects of the claimed subject matter have been described herein, such aspects need not be utilized in combination. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of the claimed subject matter. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing system for transmitting data received from an endpoint device to a client device comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory memory component that stores a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to: receive a registration request from the endpoint device, wherein the registration request comprises an endpoint address of the endpoint device and a plurality of user IDs authorized to access the endpoint device; store the endpoint address and the plurality of user IDs authorized to access the endpoint device in an endpoint database; receive a user ID from the client device; retrieve the endpoint address for the endpoint device from the endpoint database based on the received user ID; connect to the endpoint device corresponding to the endpoint address such that the computing system and the endpoint device may communicate data; receive data from the endpoint device; and transmit the received data to the client device.
 2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the set of executable instructions when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to: verify the registration request by sending a message requesting confirmation of the registration request to the endpoint device and receiving a registration request confirmation message from the endpoint device; and in response to verifying the registration request, store the endpoint address and the plurality of user IDs authorized to access the endpoint address in the endpoint database.
 3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the set of executable instructions when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to: provide a common web interface to the client device, wherein the common web interface allows access to a plurality of endpoint devices, each endpoint device comprising a unique endpoint address and a plurality of databases.
 4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the set of executable instructions when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to: receive a password from the client device associated with the received user ID; provide the received user ID and the received password to the endpoint device for authentication; and receive an authentication indicator from the endpoint device.
 5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the endpoint device comprises a firewall.
 6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the endpoint device comprises a database.
 7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the user ID comprises at least one of an email address, a telephone number, or a login name.
 8. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the endpoint device comprises a law firm server.
 9. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the data comprises law firm data.
 10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the law firm data comprises at least one of time entry data, contact data, scheduling data, case data, matter data, or billing data.
 11. A computer-implemented method for transmitting data received from an endpoint device to a client device comprising: receiving, automatically by a computing system, a registration request from the endpoint device, wherein the registration request comprises an endpoint address of the endpoint device and a plurality of user IDs authorized to access the endpoint device; storing the endpoint address and the plurality of user IDs authorized to access the endpoint device in an endpoint database; receiving a user ID from the client device; retrieving the endpoint address for the endpoint device from the endpoint database based on the received user ID; connecting to the endpoint device corresponding to the endpoint address such that the computing system and the endpoint device may communicate data; receiving data from the endpoint device; and transmitting the received data to the client device.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: verifying the registration request by sending a message requesting confirmation of the registration request to the endpoint device and receiving a registration request confirmation message from the endpoint device; and in response to verifying the registration request, storing the endpoint address and the plurality of user IDs authorized to access the endpoint address in the endpoint database.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: providing a common web interface to the client device, wherein the common web interface allows access to a plurality of endpoint devices, each endpoint device comprising a unique endpoint address and a plurality of databases.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving a password from the client device associated with the received user ID; providing the received user ID and the received password to the endpoint device for authentication; and receiving an authentication indicator from the endpoint device.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the endpoint device comprises a firewall.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the endpoint device comprises a database.
 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the user ID comprises at least one of an email address, a telephone number, or a login name.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the endpoint device comprises a law firm server.
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein the data comprises law firm data.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the law firm data comprises at least one of time entry data, contact data, scheduling data, case data, matter data, or billing data. 